Individually-operable headlight



Au M, 1923. v f 3 265.192

:R. A. SUMMERS INDIVIDUALLY OPERABLE HEADLIGHT V Filed Dec. 14 1921,- 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 'Aug. 14, 1923. 11,4L@5 ,1192

R. A. SUMMERS INDIVID UALLY OPERABLE HEADLIGHT Filed Dec. 14 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 14, 1923. 3,465,192

R..A. SUMMERS INDIVIDUALLY OEERABLE HEADLIGHT Filed Dec. 14. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet Ant" 6,

' Patented Aug. id, 1923.

ahead.

Burns AL "swam, on Moscow; stasis.

'INDIVIDUALL Y-OPERABLE HEADLIGHT T 0 all whom it may 06mm;- 5

Be itlrnown that I, RUFUS A. Suwanee," citizen of the United States,"residing at Moscow, in the county o'f StevensandfState of Kansas, have invented 'certainfnew and useful Improvements in Inclividually- Operable'lleadlig ts, of whichthe following is aspecification. V

i This invention relates toan mPrQVed in dividually' operable headlight for motor ve hicles and has as "one of its principal objects to provide a headlight which'may, without the necessity for turning a vehicle, be directed either to "the right or left for illuminating a turn in' aroa'dway or i1lun1i nating aside street.

A further object of the invention is to provide a headlight which will normally eoact with a fixedheadlight upon the vehicle for illuminating a roadway straight I And the invention has as" a stillffurther object to provide a'jheadlightwhich', when rotated in either'one direction or the other, will be automatically returned to its normal position. f i

Other and incidental objects, will appear hereinafter. c

In the drawings: Figure 1 isa fragmentary side elevation showing my improved headlight in; conjunction with a conventional motor vehicle Figure 2. is an enlarged. perspective view showing the headlight indetail, L: v

- Figure Sis a perspective view showing a slight modification of the invention, Figures is a perspective view showing a further slight modification, 7 I;

Figure 5 is perspective view showing a further modification, v i U Figure v6; is a plan view showing a further modification; V I Ii: Figure 7 a detail seetionshowing the foot control employed in; conjunction with the modification of Figure 6, and l V Figure Sis aperspective View particularly 7 illustrating bearing, for one ofthe lamp supporting' shafts asemployed in this latter modification; a

Referring drawings, I have, for convenience, shown myfli-mproved headlight conjunction w th a; conventional motor.yehiele lQ it being uner i 96 fi itfl e; veh l is ql rnfi x w t taesmiomr headlight while the other now. more particularly tothe' 13 and' beingvconnected with tween the upper ends of said seat"15'.. Extending from the bearing in allne nent w ththe bracket 11, is an arm E downward movement. the shaft at its lowerendis an arm 22 havconventional headlight of the vehicle is supplantedby the present invention. Secured to the automobile radiator at one side therebraclr'ets l1 and 12 respectively, the bracket llbelng formed at its outer end with a bearthe lamp of or to, any other appropriate part of the veh cle near its front end, are'spaced liracketfat'the opposite side of the vehicle by a cross bar 13". The bracket 12 is provided with an alined bearing 14. As particularly shown. in Figure 2; the bearing 13 is flared toward its upper end and, at its upper end edge,; is beveled to define Y clined shoulders 15 sloping to the forward side of the shearing and providinga' crotch between the lower ends thereof while heshoulder is a 1 6 formed at itsouter end with plate 17 whichis connected to the mud guard at the adjacent sideof the vehicle for rigidly bracing the bearing.

do urnaled through the bearings 13 and 1% is a vertical lamp supporting shaft 18 provided atr its upper end with a fork 19 and suitably mounted in said fork is a lamp 20. lllountednpon the shaft at its forward side is a horizontally arranged roller 21 dis pesed to coact with the shoulders 15 of the bearing 13 and sustain the shaft against Suitably secured to the vehiole body infro nt of the-drivers seat is a, vertically disposed control "shaft 26 provided at its upper-end witha handle 27 and extending from the lower end of said shaftis arm 28,. Pivotally connected at one end to this arm and at its opposite end a pair of inlie ' the .hearing lti, compressing the spring-26g to the arm 22 is a rod 29 and mounted upon 7 the shaft 26 near its lower end is an arcuate tootpedal30. u AS "will now be' readily understood view {of thepreceding description, by press 'rng upon one end ot' the pedal 30,- the'shaft 26Inay be rotated for correspondingly ro tating the lamp supporting shaft 18 I say;

Q for instance, toward the left. As the shatjt 18 is thus rotated, the roller 21fw1ll ride up va-correspending one of theshoulders 1519f VAccordingly when the foot pedalBO is released; the "shaft 18 willloe counter rotated V V and-the lamp-"2O automatically returned-to its normal 'positiondirected straightahead. By pressing agalnst the opposite.endjotthe foot pedal: 30, the s]; 1al't 18 may i otated a halt turn in the opposite d rection or to Ward the right, when the roller 21 Willride up the other ot-the shoulders 15 of the bear :ing' 13, compressing the spring 2 4;. Thus,

when the pedal is released, thelamp will he returned-to its normalposition. Iaccordingly piovide an arrangement wherein the lamp 20 may be easily operated for-directing its rays either toward the rightjor left to illuminate a turn in the roadway or a side street; so that the danger incident to turning a vehicle out of 'the path otthe light rays of the headlights suchas s new incident to the ordinarystationary headlightsfmay be avoided. By rotatingth'e lamp a full halt turn, the roller 21 may he engaged 'inthe seat 15 for holding-tithe lamp stationary directed rearwardly tori ii luminating the interior of the vehicle as late the headlight.

7 mounted to serve all of the functions of the s )rinp; Otherwise this modification is identical with the preferred construction; In Figure l of the drawings, I have illus- V trateda furthermodified form of the in.-

VGIltlOil. In this modification," I employ an elongated tubular bearing 34: from which ex said bearing in alinement with the upper tend hracketsg35 for connecting the bearlng With :the vehicle and pro ecting :from' most of said'hrackets an arm 36 on which "a: is formed a plate 37 d'isposedjfor attach- *menttoan adjacent mud guard of the ve' ic cle. Journaled through the bearing is a vertically disposed lamp supportinsrshatt 38 upon the upper endpf whichis mounted a lamp '39 .andsecuredto the shaft near its lower end 15a; gear l0]V'i-l'ppropriately mounted to coactjwith 'said' gear'fas by a trunnion, 41,1 is anos cillatinggear segment 42 from wh 1ch pr o ects an arm 3 randextending through the shaft '38" below said gear is a cross-rod to'the endsoi which; are connected oppositely directed i sprmgs 45. fThese springs mayhesecured to any adj acentgp a-rt or parts of 'llhQijZQlllClG "and, V as will at once be appreciated serve-toLnor mallyhold the'shaft f38 against rotation, :maintaining the lamp 39directe d straight ahead The shaft 26 andassociatedparts of the preferred constructlon may he em loyed for oscillating the gear "segment 42 the rod 29 beingconnected at its forward ei d'tothe arm 4E3; Thus, the shaft 38 may he'turned in' 'opposit'e directionsforturning c the lamp 39, the springsjfi serving'to automatically return the shaft when, released.

In Figure 5of the 'drawings; I have illus trated a still'turthermodification of'the invention wherein; in 'l'ieuofthe ea segg [ment 4:2, as shown in the modified-structure of Figure 4, I employ Qan actuating 'bar e6, Fixed to the lower {end ,o'f the" lam supportingshaft is a gear 47 and formed on coacting with said geari Ai fco'ntro'lshaft the adjacentend of said her i's'a' rack 428c 49 is employed; this shaft corresponding to thefsha ft 26 ot-zthepre'ferre'd constructionf V and mounted .onisaijd shaft at its lower end 1sagear 50'wh1le the bar dis'provi'ded at its adjacent end with a rack- 51 to-coact with said gear. ;The' shaft 49' carries afoot pedal 52 corresponding-to the pedal; 30-"of v the pre'ltcrred construction and' detachably *connected to the shaft "at its upper end is a handle-53 designed to serve the function ol" the'handle'27. Thusfthe shaft 49 may hcturned for manipulating the headlight. As will be observed, suitably mounted roll- *ers 54* are provided to coact with the bar 46 near its ends.

' In Figures 6', 7 and. 8 ofthedrawings, I

haveillustrated' a further modification 'emhodying an arrangement;wherein both of the headllghts of the vehicle maybe "simul- "-taneously' rotated in "opposite. directions so that the rays from the headlights will "be caused to cross each other whereby, without dimming ofthejheadli ghts, said headlights Will be preventeld from blinding an. ap

proaching lmotorist; Mounted at "one. side of the iv'ehicleradiator' ism. lamp 55 identr calwiththe lamp 20 or the preferred con-"' 7 V str'uction and mounted in like manner? EX- tending rearwardly ,from' the: supporting shattior sald'lamp is a rod '56 corresp0nd-- to the rod- 29, this rod being connected at ts rear'end with a controlshaft 57 upon the u er end ot'whichis mounted an arcuate foot pedal The parts 57 and 58 correspend, of course, to the parts 26 and 30 of the preferred construction. Thus, aswill be appreciated in view of the preceding de-' scription, the lamp 55 may be rotated by means of the pedal 58. Moimted at'the opposite side of'the vehicle-radiator are vertically spaced brackets 59; the uppermost of which is connected with the uppermost of the brackets for the lamp 55by a cross bar 60. lhe uppermost of the brackets 59 is providedat its outer endwith a bearing 61, the upper end of which is formed to provide a substantially semi-circular inclined face 62 terminating instep shoulders 63. The

lowermost of the brackets 59 is provided at" its outer end with a bearing 64 and journaled through said bearings is a lamp supporting shaft'65 equipped at its upper end with a lamp 66 while from the lower end of said shaft extends an arm 67. Projecting from the shaft at substantially right angles thereto is roller 68 to coact with'the inclined for limiting the shaft in its turning movement. Thus, as will be clear, the shaft may v be rotated for a half turn when the roller 68 will ride up the inclined face 62,-and' associated with the shaft is a spring 69 for counter-rotatingthe shaft to normal position. Surrounding the control shaft 57 is a tubular shaft 70, from the upper'endl of which 'extends a rearwardly projecting pedal 71 V pedal 71, this pedal may be swung to one normally disposed, asshown in Figure 6, midway between the ends of the pedal 58 and extending from the lower end of said shaft is a forwardly projecting arm 72. Connected at one end to this armand at its opposite end to the arm 67 is a cable 73 which istrained around an appropriately located pulley 74, a spring 75 being preferably employed at the rear end of the cable. As will be perceived, thepedal 58 may be engaged for individually turning the lamp 55. However, by engaging the foot with the side, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 6, to engage the adjacent end of the pedal 58,

when continued swinging movement of the approaching motorist.

Having thus described the invention, what I is claimed as new is:

1 A headlight mechanism including rotatable lamp supporting shafts= means for rotating one shaft independently of the other shaft, and means'engageable with the first mentioned means whereby both shafts may be rotated simultaneously toward each other.

2. A headlight mechanism including rotatable lamp supporting shafts, a foot operated shaft operatively connected with one of said lamp supporting shafts, a foot pedal 0n the latter shaft engageable for rotating said lamp supporting shaft, a tubular shaft rotatable on said last mentioned shaft and operatively connected with the other of said lamp supporting shafts, and a foot pedal upon said tubular shaft for rotating said last mentioned lamp supporting shaft and engageable with saidfirst mentioned foot pedal whereby both ofsaid lamp supporting shafts may be rotated simultaneously.

3. In a headlight mechanism, the combination of companion vertically spaced supporting brackets having alined bearings one provided with an inclined face, a lamp supporting shaft -.journaled through said bearings and provided with means to coact with saidinclined face for counter-rotating the shaft when turned in either direction, a spring coasting between the shaft and the other of said bearings resisting rotation of the shaft, and manually operable means for rotating the shaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

RUFUS A. SUMMERS. [in s] 

